"A little—that is, I used to, when I was a girl. Where did you meet him?"
"He went with me on the whaling voyage I told you of, and afterward to California. We had a tent together, and some other fellows with us, and we worked the same claim for more than six months."
"I suppose he was quite well?"
"Strong as an ox."
"And—and happy?" pursued the widow, bending closer over her knitting.
"Hum—the less said about that the better, perhaps. But he seemed to enjoy life after a fashion of his own. And he got rich out there, or rather, I will say, well off."
Mrs. Townsend did not pay much attention to that part of the story. Evidently she had not finished asking questions, but she was puzzled about her next one. At last she brought it out beautifully:
"Was his wife with him in California?"
The stranger looked at her with twinkling eyes.
"His wife, ma'am! Why, bless you, he has not got any wife."